The River & The Highway [Tazrae]

[Alric Lysane]

He watched the scarlet Ixam for a few chimes, noting how it seemed to switch its gaze between the two of them as if trying to work something out. He had been surprised when it appeared so suddenly, but Tazrae didn’t seem to be concerned, instead simply noting his presence but then switching her focus back to their conversation. He listened to her, still watching the Ixam, he was not so used to having giant reptiles appear out of nowhere, though he supposed that over time perhaps it would just be a normal part of life. In many ways he might seem more like the Ixam to the denizens of Syka, he felt sure that Sunberth hadn’t really prepared him for such a place after all.

“I think I’ll call him Ruby, seems…apt. Pack…or Lounge…mentality, that is something I do understand though, at least. They seem friendly enough, Lys seems to be having fun anyway,” he said with a slight curling of the corners of his lips at yet another shout of enjoyment from further away now, “so long as he isn’t going to try to fight me for you, I’m too tired today. Maybe tomorrow” he said in an amused tone.

After a few more moments of meeting the Ixam’s gaze as it watched them, the animal settling down for a long relaxation it seemed, he turned his attention back to Tazrae fully. He tilted his head slightly, as if listening to something, but really, he was trying once more to fully remember her. It was a strange situation on some levels, being invited to join her on the bed as if that were the most normal thing between them, with no memories to back that up beyond vague sensations and remembered constructions from Lykata and their writings. Yet he had no fear or reservation at the idea, and deep down it felt right, and he trusted his instincts, and so joined her.

He was glad he did too, almost instantly she was toying with his hair in a soothing manner, fingers tracing his forehead as he looked up, play that seemed usual for her and so eased whatever vestiges of reservation that might have still existed. He relaxed into it, listening to her talk about her own map and nodding along. What she described seemed to be like his own map, even the name was the same, so perhaps it had been made by the same people? It did make him wonder, that they had been apart for a while and now re-joined they had both been given similar gifts. Too many things seemed too coincidental to be chance these days.

“Yes, that was the name Mathias said, Osere map. He said it was a gift from Ionu, he had showed me the map in our meeting. All the way back to before the Valterrian. There had been so many of us back then…thousands. Now…twenty maybe, including Lys and myself. A reflection of humanity in general, perhaps. Westfall…apparently, we are his line and not Kova’s…her brother…he died, apparently gave his life to help save many, many others. One thing Ionu and Vas did show me was that not all of them were bad, even if many did bad things” he sighed, rubbing his eyes and nodding at her suggestion of a safe place, she would know more about that in Syka than he did, so he would trust her instincts after showing it to her in the morning.

“Funny how we both got something similar, we’ll have to compare and share, see if perhaps their secrets can be unlocked one day. Wouldn’t that be a thing to bring back? Something practical, useful and somewhat eccentric all at the same time” he chuckled, looking up at her for a few moments before closing his eyes and simply enjoying the feel of her fingers and her presence.

Then came the time for the bard’s tale and her talent because apparent almost immediately, painting a vivid picture in his mind even though he had no reference points truly to call upon. It was a grand tale too, filled with old powers and figures, epic reasonings and synchronicities dotted throughout. He wasn’t sure whether it was the story, or the way Tazrae told it, but he could almost feel a sadness within that the world had become less than it had been. Every story talked of divines walking amongst titans of all crafts, forging the greatest foundations of the most ambitious of works the world had ever seen.

Great things done by those bound together in the deepest of ways. Technology and philosophies that had long since died, or faded into almost nothingness. A united, in many ways, world that now lay shattered and ruined, descendants who knew little of what they fought over scrabbling for the scraps and divided for it. But the pictures Tazrae’s story painted for him were the opposite, all bright colours and valued ambitions, honoured virtues and more. He took it all in, his desire to know about the Velispar, trying to glean why his father’s family would make it their symbol, and whether he could relate to it in any way.

He was surprised that he could, and when she asked her question he didn’t answer immediately, instead giving it some thought, which would tell her that it mattered to him, that he not treat her ideas as flippant things. But also, because he was trying to reconcile what she had said about the creature with what little he knew about his father’s line and coming up short with a link. He could see why the Velispar was a good symbol, but the association eluded him for now.

“I can see why my father’s line chose it as their symbol. It’s a powerful and mysterious set of creatures, both violent in their strength but wise in their adult accumulation of knowledge,” he said after a while, thoughtfully, “and I think that what happens to one’s body after death means nothing to the one who has died. The cycle of life might suggest we move one…somewhere…perhaps come back again. What use is the body then? No, it is the living who suffer the loss, the lack and the hollowness inside when that person is now missing. What would anyone who has suffered such a thing give to be able to be with that person once more…if only for a time, and through another being’s…inherent magic?”

“I would like to come with you, to see if this Asal’Nav can tell me of things that I’ve longed to know. About my families, and the world before, and perhaps even how to bring some of it back, to build anew something before I too leave this world. I should probably try to make something of these gifts, something others can benefit from”

“These Verusk sound interesting, have you met many yourself? Are they another creature like the Mulgon…from somewhere else? I like this, by the way, this sharing. I wish I had something I could tell you, but I’ve never been a great storyteller. Is this what you’ve been doing then? Researching all of these things and exploring them?”



.

[Tazrae]

Taz nodded, relaxed more than she’d been in a long time. It felt good spending time with Alric, even though most of his presence was based on faith. She wished he held the knowledge of her in his eyes. He didn’t; not fully. He trusted, and that was enough. It said so much though, that he seemed determined to recapture the past. It was in many ways as if her curse was everyone else’s, and not just her own. And he’d come to Syka to help them all when they’d been utterly unable to help themselves, it seemed.

The young bard loved the afternoons. It sounded like such an odd time of day to love, almost random. Some people were morning people, and others loved the way the sunsets painted the sky. Still others loved the starry skies and the pale moonlight cascading down on the world. But Taz was different than most people. She loved when the onshore breeze slacked off and the world felt indecisive. Taz thought of it as the ocean exhaling. Later, when evening came, the offshore breeze would come, as if the ocean inhaled. Then the afternoon would be over and evening would start. The Innkeeper had never lived in a place like Syka.

She knew the land, knew the sea, and paid attention to their interaction here.

The breeze rushed to the cooler of the two, which at night was the land and in the morning was the sea. It only changed in the afternoon when the temperature of the land and the sea were equal. That equality was like a holding of one’s breath. Then the land heated up hotter than the surrounding water and the breezes started again. She loved that liminal time, that slack in the world, where she could roam and play and even nap to catch up on sleep. That Alric had joined her in this time was significant to her; a bard who saw signs and symbols in everything and everywhere.

It was an odd clash of her new life and her old, having both Alric and the scarlet Ixam here with her. And she looked on, not sure what she thought of Alric naming the big male that she’d avoided giving a name and thus an individual identity to for so long. The scarlet Ixam was an ideal, a teaser to the wild, a promise she could run off at any time and be free of everything that held her bound in Syka; that made her human. The Inn, the people… everything. In Alric giving him a name, he gave the scarlet Ixam an identity and then somehow took him out of the context of the wild and into part of the here and now… part of Syka. It made him another anchor to Syka rather than a promise of an escape. And yet, he would make Alric such a fitting mount. He was big enough to carry the man easily whereas Taz or Bree was smaller and lighter in their Ixam forms.

And so she watched Alric watch the male, not commenting about the name only offering Alric a smile and a nod at his observations of them being friendly enough. The Ixam liked people, especially the people in Syka, which differed vastly from the ones Taz had liberated the initial dozen from. Scores of wild Ixam had joined them since, doubling the number in Syka and sometimes overrunning the Settlement with so many Taz couldn’t count. They came and went through, without attachments being formed to people unless people took an interest and began riding or using them.

People offered them socialization, comfort, and a sense of community that the Ixam craved but didn’t form easily on their own. Garden Beach was probably different though. The Ixam were welcomed here, put to work if they wanted to assist, and were played equally hard in games they all loved. Since the children had come, they’d started playing something like polo in and out of the water across the sands of the beach with each child mounted. They used sticks for mallets and coconuts for balls and it all seemed to work out just fine despite how violent the games could sometimes get.

“The maps are oddly magical. I wonder how they were created?” Taz mused, knowing for certain it wasn’t any sort of magic she knew of from the encyclopedia.

She listened to Alric’s explanation of the map, his family line, and who Westfall was. Taz smiled when he admitted that others had shown him not all of his kind were bad. It was something she already knew. Evil begets evil, and Alric was something else. So, it stood to reason his line was something else altogether as well. But he was always quick to believe the worst. So, she was smart enough to hold her tongue and just continue to let him talk, learning as much as she could without questions derailing his train of thinking.

Taz continued to stroke his hair, watching him relax. She noted that Alric’s hair curled slightly too, and probably would more so in the humidity of Syka. That thought brought a smile to her face.

His next words caused her to truly smile. “I don’t believe in coincidences anymore. You probably shouldn’t either.” She added, shaking her head. “Two maps, of identical names or forms… slightly different purposes. That’s no coincidence.” She added, giving her curls another shake. “Sure, I’ll show you mine.” She added, smiling. “In fact, I’m hoping you’ll add your name to it.” She said, looking thoughtful. “I can add up to nine other names to track on it. We can add Lys too, if she’s agreeable. Mine’s detailed in Syka and The Maw so it would be easy for someone to be located with it who was lost.” She added, in explanation.

She traced the lines of his face then, when his eyes closed and sighed softly. Yes, indeed, the afternoon was her favorite time of day.

Tazrae spun her tale and told him what she’d learned, making something more of it than it truly was. But he was here, and she was feeling her Rhaus Marks acutely.

She thought about the Velispar and nodded to Alric’s words. He had some ideas about the afterlife, clearly, but she also thought it would be important for her as to what happened to her body after she died. She didn’t want her corpse to be put to flame or lay rotting somewhere. She’d rather be food for someone else – animals, plants, even the soil. And her spirit? She’d be free to go anywhere, maybe there was an afterlife or maybe there wasn’t. But wouldn’t be sweet if she could come back as a single drop of rain or a momentary fleeting damselfly that lived in glorious color if only for a single day? Still stroking Alric’s hair, Taz reached up and brushed her curls out of her face, tucking some of it behind her ears.

She didn’t say anything to him in response about taking him to go see Asal’Nav with her. She’d have to find the creature first and she certainly wasn’t going to drag Alric halfway through the jungle all over the place to do so. If she was lucky enough to find the creature, she’d talk to it, feel out its situation, then bring Alric if he seemed friendly enough. Isolated creatures out in the wild weren’t something to mess with. She’d risk no one else but herself for things like that, at least not at first. “I’ll take you to meet him if I can find him.” She told Alric, which was the truth. It would take a great deal of searching to find his residence, she figured and had no idea when that would be anyhow.

“The Verusk are around. They are crosses between the Velispar and humans. I know three of them personally. Probably Seladonna is the best. Cleon and I found the djedship port for Pavena and I talked to Talia about it since we knew each other from working on Philtering together with Ialari. It turns out Seledonna has actually sailed them. She’s also good at a bunch of other things, so she’s helped me a few times.” Taz said softly. “Most of them are from Off-world as far as I know. But they won’t talk about it much.” Taz added, looking thoughtfully out over the turquoise water.

Her view here was very pretty and she took it in often. “When things settle down, I’ll introduce you and show you around. I’ll be free again tomorrow afternoon.” She added, not explaining to him the Inn took up most of her time in the wee hours of the morning and well into the afternoon, then again late evening. “I know you want to investigate the curse things first… but if there’s anything else you want to see immediately or you just want me to take you on a tour I can do that.” She said thoughtfully. “I’ll make you a map of the settlement too so you know where things are rough.” She added, knowing she had enough writing paper around here to do that easily enough.

"As for what I've been doing in my free time... I've been researching all kinds of things, anything and everything. I've been learning about the best and worst of things in the world both magical and non-magical. I've been making myself something of an expert on Monsters too. And I've been doing that so much that sleep doesn't come easily to me anymore. The sheer massive amounts of monsters we know about as humans in the world both before and after the Valterrian is staggering." She added, shaking her head.

"Velispar's are just a drop in the bucket. There are monsters, for example, that can spontaneously spawn in numbers of between five and five hundred, just because the earth is overly rich. And they are very hard to kill. Five would be unheard of... five hundred would be utterly fatal." She added. shaking her head. "But I think you have enough to worry about with the curses, at least for right now." She said softly, blinking back the sorrow she felt and wishing she could join him in a nap. The truth was though, she had too much to do.... far too much.

Words 1729

[Alric Lysane]

“I have no doubt that we will find out, even if we have to discover it anew for ourselves. There will be a magic, and then an adaptation, and then probably a refinement…if there’s one thing I have learned about magic, beyond its dangers, is that it isn’t about being powerful necessarily, its about being smart. Experimentation, perhaps, hasn’t been what it was since before the Valterrian…but in the right place with the right people…well perhaps that can be changed. Cautiously, of course” he said, noticing that even with her attempt she didn’t manage all of the locks and he reached up and tucked a few back himself.

He had to smile back when her face lit up with her own, it was impossible not to, and he could feel that this was where he wanted to be, even if he didn’t fully understand it. She was so nonchalant with her presence, simply claiming what play with her fingers she desired and expecting no argument in turn, which spoke much of the times together he hoped he would remember soon. For his part he relaxed further, arms coming up and around, there to trace his own patterns upon the small of her back between thoughts. She was right to not believe in coincidences, they didn’t exist for them, perhaps not for anyone when you got down to it – though by the divine’s own admission there was a certain interest surrounding them, and those linked to them.

I never wanted to find out what that was like, I remember that, used to make me skulk in the shadows of my mind just thinking about it but now…now it just seems so…pointless arguing and resisting. We’ll never be mindless pawns, that much I know deep down, but how can you fight the will of one divine, let alone a gaggle of them? he mused, amusement creeping into his features at the very idea.

“Your map is interactive then? That’s interesting. Hmmm…that would mean, if you were talented enough…you could scale that up, the whole world, keep track of family, friends…and enemies…with if only there had been one for...well I suppose it doesn’t matter now. Of course, I’ll add my name to it, and I think Lys would too. She’s been excited to come here, and see you, I doubt she’ll not want to be part of the secret map club. Besides…gives you peace of mind I’d imagine”

He left it at that and listened to the fantastical tales of the Velispar and their cultivated heritage, at least the two that were spoken of. He could see the nobility of such a thing but also the dangers of the creature in general. He knew for certain that he’d not like to have a whole brood of them hatch and then devour the entirety of his new home, and if he were honest as strange as his life had become it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for something like that to actually happen. He hoped that she would find this Keeper of Memories and that then they could visit together, it would be an adventure if nothing else, but something stirred and told him that it could be much more – revelations perhaps.

“I suppose I’d not want to talk about it either, especially with strangers. Whatever made them come here, and then have to stay here…why share that with those you don’t trust?” he mused aloud, walking through the thoughts but then quickly doubling back, “wait…djedship? There are djedships now? Like…powered by Djed instead of sails on the ocean? Wouldn’t that be…a lot of effort for not much difference? Unless…do they sail on the ocean?” he asked, curiosity rising and his eyes opening to look into her bright blue gaze.

“I met Cleon too, he was…unusual. Threw up on my boots actually. Younger than me in years, filled with…emotions. Took him to the Redynn, never did hear if he was better for it. I tried, I suppose that’s mostly what I do these days. At least he seems to be alright from what you’re saying. And Seladonna, another name to remember and try to talk to. Ialari…I get the feeling I’ll be having fun trying to learn everything anew. Rules, customs, people…should be fun when I’m not putting my foot in my mouth” he said with a wry smile.

He thought upon the tour, it was a good idea but he wasn’t sure it was how he wanted to be introduced to Syka and its residents, not really. No doubt it would be delightful for a time, but then he would forget. First meetings together with others that she deemed important, for no doubt there was no possibility of visiting everywhere and everyone at once, would turn into singular things with just him and the others, Tazrae forgotten and left outside of their interactions. He was a stranger here, and she would be when introducing him…it all seemed so wrong, she should be able to tell them about him and be known, be seen and heard as an equal, as a Sykan.

Yet she had asked him, perhaps, because she wanted to do it, to be the one to make sure he knew his way around. Perhaps it was important to her, he reflected, knowing that had fate turned around and landed her in Sunberth he’d make it the first point of order to make sure she knew where to go, where toa void, who was dangerous and all the rest. It was difficult not to take some you cared for, fallen out of their world to drop into yours and not want to make sure they were provided for, knew the lay of the land – though how much of that was left now after a season of curses he had no idea. He looked at her for a while thoughtfully before answering.

“A map would be nice, if you had the spare time, but it seems you are quite busy here with the trapping and cooking…the rest. As to the tour…I think I’d rather you gave it to me when everyone can remember you again. It must be difficult, having to meet people who you know but treat you a stranger. I can wait, I’d rather you not have to go through the whole of Syka like that for me. But thank you…for offering to do so despite it all. I only wish that it could be done today and that this mess had already been resolved, that way you could have shared with me the bonds you’ve already formed and I could see you revel in them” he said, meeting her gaze once more for a while, hoping she understood, before letting it slip away again, shifting to rest his head further into her lap.

When she spoke of monsters, her words dark and sad, he frowned slightly, wondering what it was that she had read that could have made things seem so damned and pessimistic. He would have been the first to agree that he saw the worst in things at times but he had never concerned himself with monsters before, or things that went bump in the night – unless you counted actual thieves and mercenaries. Things that he knew were dangers. To worry about things he didn’t know would ever be…he could see the sense, and knew the feeling well, but he had never counted monsters upon them. He thought for a few chimes and wondered whether it were the monsters themselves or the lack of control over them that irked so.

“Humans have been surviving for a long time, I suppose at least…I don’t know…nine thousand years. Probably longer I’d guess. We have an adaptability, and stubborn nature, that means we can do whatever we put our minds to. Perhaps, with your new learning, you are simply shifting focus onto problems that have been forgotten for a time,” he said gently, slowly, “but whatever happens we will survive, weather and rise above. These curses will show that, that I promise. Come next season things will be stronger and better than before, and monsters will suffer the same fate, if they ever come. I hope they do not, by the sounds of it, but either way we’ll face them together”

“As for now, I would offer to help you with whatever tasks that you have left today but you’d probably waste half a day just teaching me how to do them. I am sure that I am quite useless at anything Sykan at the moment,” he smiled up at her, “so I think I’ll spend some time resting, perhaps chatting with Ruby if he stays, and then perhaps trying to awaken Zhyad. Those are things a simple Sunberthian can do until he finds his feet”

“Honestly, all I want right now is you anyway. This…this is perfect” he said, closing his eyes once more and enjoying her touch through his hair, slowly falling further and further towards slumber with the heat and the closeness.


.

[Tazrae]

Tazrae nodded to his words. Magic to her wasn’t about power. It was about how one executed the abilities the power tended to give a mage. The smallest dagger, in her mind, could cut an artery as well as the biggest finest-crafted sword. The user just had to know how to use it. That was why Tazrae often played with her djed, teaching herself fine manipulation that she could use with her djed transformed into res or other things. She played with it the same way a bard played with sound or a cook played with ingredients. A small adjustment on one end or the other could make a huge difference either way in the outcome. And everything she’d learned from anywhere stressed control and the fineness of details.

She nodded her agreement to his words on experimentation as he reached up and tucked a few of her curls behind her ear.

“Time will tell on all these things. Hopefully, we will be around to do a bit more with it than is classically taught. I know, in my experience, what is taught and what is reality differs vastly. My goal has never been nor will it ever be power. It will be controlled.” Tazrae affirmed, watching him carefully. She liked to manage things neatly, keeping everything within her ability to manipulate and sway. If she had no jurisdiction with the djed, then she felt extremely uncomfortable wielding it. She nodded when he commented, using the word ‘cautiously’ which reassured her. They seemed to be on the same page with their magical theory ethics.

Alric was quiet then, lost in his own head, and Tazrae didn’t mind. She closed her eyes to the ebb of the sea breeze knowing it was that magical time when the world held its breath. At his sudden question, she opened her eyes and nodded slightly. “Interactive? I’m not sure what you mean by that. It shows where people who have given blood to it are in real-time. So… it tracks them? And it also marks where I’ve been and what places I know – by the names I know them by - on itself as I travel. I’ve been carrying it with me. So far, my name is the only one in it. It could be very dangerous in the wrong hands, but helpful in our hands for keeping track of those we watch over and love.” She added, knowing that there was a good side and a bad side to all things. Those were the uses she thought of for this map, but Alric might have other ideas. “I have no idea how they are made. It’s something to study later though when things get more stable.” She added, knowing it was something she’d revisit.

“Thank you for the offer, Alric. But you need to rest. You just had a big trip.” She said softly, gratitude in her eyes though. “I only have to prep and make dinner for the guests and perhaps pre-cook some breakfast so that I can get away quicker tomorrow. I’d like to spend as much time with you as I can. But I understand if you want to roam around on your own. People will treat you well and there is very little danger in and around the Settlement if you stay close in.” She added. “You know where the Inn is if you get hungry. Feel free to drop by for food any time. I’ll keep an eye on Lys too, make sure she doesn’t go off traipsing through the jungle.” She added, laughing quietly. “That might be a full-time job, come to think of it.” She said.

She glanced at the scarlet Ixam then back at Alric. “You need to awaken yourself as much as Zhyad for Vorilescence. Sounds like a quandary… you need a Voril Blade to awaken yourself, yet you need an awakened blade to become a Voril Mage. How interesting. I can’t wait to see how you resolve this one.” She said with a smile. “I’ll be rooting for you.” She said, rising then and pausing only to leave a kiss on his forehead.

“Sleep well. And sleep deep. Hopefully, the open-air won’t bother you.” She added, then paused to glance over at the scarlet Ixam. “Watch over him, will you?” She added, then gave Alric a last smile and headed down the steps off the deck and off along the path they’d used to get to the Pavilion itself… towards the Inn. She’d hurry through her chores this evening and see if she could get back as quickly as possible.

Words: 770

[Alric Lysane]

She had a calming voice, far more calming than any other he could remember, even without using her bardic talents to enhance the pitch and tones. It was growing ever more difficult to keep his eyes open and so they were now closed, and he had only his mind’s eye to picture her face as she spoke. He could also feel that his control over vibrant consciousness was beginning to slip towards that middle ground when one foot was in sleep and the other was not, vainly fighting that losing battle of attrition against the tired ache of well-travelled bones and aching muscles. Still, her words were interesting and so forestalled slumber for a few chimes longer, though his own thoughts were muted in response somewhat.

“I have been thinking about that…a little. I don’t think that whatever is taught now is like what it used to be. The books, wherever they come from and whoever they are written by, they contain only the bare bones of what is possible. A safety net, to make sure power can’t be grasped by all perhaps. Experimentation, whatever we feel about it, is probably the only way to discover things again. Unless we find a bunch of Alaheans laying around somewhere…and I’m not sure that would be a good thing anyway” he suppressed a yawn behind the back of his hand, blinked a few times to look up at her and then his eyes closed once more in tiredness.

“Take the maps…imagine what terrible things they could be used for – tracking an entire population, controlling and knowing their every moment, whether they were together and so possibly conversing…plotting for the paranoid mind even. Imagine if you could get even more information into these maps…how far would the magic be pushed by minds of a darker nature?” he pondered slowly, wondering if it was his own pessimistic life that made him jump straight to the more negative things, “that’s what I mean about interactive. Real time…tracking as you said…but what if what we hold are mere simple fragments of a much more complex…and deviously dark magic? What if it could be used to listen, spy…or worse? Or…perhaps they were used to track criminals, bad people and high threats…or as you say…loved ones and friends. I like that one best”

“I think, the one thing I can be sure of, is that I know nothing really of magic. I think sometimes that even if I lived several centuries like some of my ancestors…I’d probably still end my days looking across the horizon of possibility, knowing that even then I knew far less than I thought I did” he snorted, it was amusing after a fashion, the thought of endless curiosity and a never ending attempt at knowing – it seemed fitting, after all was that not life itself?

He smiled slightly as she refused his offer, it was the wiser choice to make he felt certain, and listened as she spoke. He doubted that it was as simple as she made it sound, the meal she had prepared earlier was one of the more complicated he had ever eaten and she had seemed to put it together without breaking much sweat metaphorically speaking. If she put as much effort into every meal, and he had no reason to doubt that she did, then she’d be busy for a while and he’d just be in her way anyway. It was enjoyable to hear she wanted to spend time with him, but he’d rather not be a burden to her, and she had her own responsibilities.

He wasn’t sure what his were, upon reflection, he couldn’t see that he could offer Syka much – he was no builder or tradesman, knew nothing of jungle roaming and about the only things he was decent at they probably already had in abundance…but those were thoughts for another time and they retreated into the shadows of his mind as his relaxation deepened under her ministration. He nodded at her words about Lys, she was certainly a handful though she meant well most of the time. He had largely given up on controlling her mischief, she was too old for it and he didn’t have the heart to regulate her anyway. He was teaching her what he could, when he could, and trying to make her see the value of his perspectives…but she was stubborn and had her own mind too.

“At some point she will have to make her own mistakes. So long as she doesn’t do something suicidal…well I suppose it’s okay to let her have some of her own fun. Within reason. This is a new thing for her, being here. She probably doesn’t want to admit it, but she is feeling as out of depth as I am. At least she has the excuse of age if she messes something up…an excuse I lost…well feels like a lifetime ago now” he sighed, flashing another smile as she kissed his forehead and started to shift herself from under his head.

“I like puzzles…but I have no idea how to solve this one. Zhyad…I suppose it sleeps for a reason. Mathias says it was meant for me, so I’ll have to figure out how to be the one to restore it. It is one responsibility that I am certain is for me, perhaps the only one left now apart from Lys and Twilight. The others…all left behind. It seems fitting, that I get given a Revealer that might reveal part of my own place in things to me. It would be nice…to know where I stand for once in the weave of the world. Thank you, for the support” he sighed as he shrugged his head deeper into the pillow and watched her leave now with a last gaze, enjoying the sight of her walking away.

She was gone with a few last words for Ruby, and then he was alone and feeling more tired than he had a bell ago. A full stomach and comfortable bedding went a long way towards restful sleep, that much was true. It wasn’t long before he was sound asleep, though he’d wake a couple of times to peel clothing off as the heat affected him. Eventually, late in the evening when Syna was almost vanished, he would awaken to find a book and some gold charms wrapped in what looked like rough linen fabric upon the table beside the bed – a scrawled note from Lys told him she had found them and decided she didn’t want them, gifting them to him. The book had what looked like a stone face upon it, a silk rope tied around its mouth tightly for some reason. The charms were interesting – a pair of shackles and a set of lips that he slipped into his belt pouch for later perusal. The book he left wrapped in the linen fabric on the table by the bed before once more slipping into a slumber, this one lighter than the one before, more a relaxed nap than a rejuvenating slumber.



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